How to stop makeup FLASHBACK

Has this ever happened to you? Makeup that didn't photograph well showcasing obvious under eye concealer. Well it's happened to me and looks like I'm in good company, looking I put my makeup on in the dark. lol 
This phenomenon is called a "flashback" and it happens when light  flashes back off of your face making your face look lighter than you body because of reflective formulas in your makeup. Your  makeup looks perfect in natural lighting so you're horrified to see how you look once the flash hit you. The two photos below were taken the same day, makeup was not refreshed because I have an aversion to doing so and always make sure to set it right the first time around, hence I tend to have a heavy hand applying makeup. I can go to work with my whole face done in the morning and still look exactly the same for happy hour. I will only drink out of straws during the day to not mess up my lipstick. lol I know that the lipstick looks different in the pics but I always wear the same shade and had not eaten prior to these pics and actually stopped carrying my lipstick in my purse because I never remember to reapply so I thought why do I keep carrying it out? lol So I don't know how they different in the pics other than lighting.
I'm addicted to watching makeup how to videos on youtube and it seems like everyone is wearing false lashes which I think look fabulous on the right person. I used to wear lashes for special occasions like NYE but I guess I stopped because my natural lashes are pretty long and with the advent of women wearing lashes daily I feel its cheapened the look of special occasion lashes. I absolutely love the way KimK's lashes look so I thought I'd give it another try. I bought some human hair eyes lashes for $12 (one pair), don't judge but hey I wanted the best on the market! lol I feel false lashes look best with full face makeup so I started wearing under eye concealer which is not really my thing because I feel right now I'm lucky enough not to have an under eye problem. But I thought I'd use it to get a more uniform look. In the daylight it looked just fine but with flash, holy moly look at the half white moon affect under my eyes!

The ingredient to look out for is your concealer/foundation/powder is titanium dioxide/mica, but only when they are active ingredients (meaning in high concentrations). So I looked up the ingredients for all of my concealers, interesting enough that many brands do not list it on their website, and sure enough everything I own has it. So the trick is to cover your concealer with powder that does not contain that ingredient. Mineral makeup does not contain it. MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural is a good option.

But if your makeup containers SPF that is made up of Titanium Dioxide or Zinc Oxide particles, these are pure white and they certainly show up like that on camera. if you're thinking you'll be able to get away with using your everyday moisturizer packed with SPF underneath your makeup without it showing through; think again. Skip HD. Remember that HD (high definition) makeup doesn't mean you'll photograph well. Some HD products photograph beautifully in flash photography but we must remember that HD makeup is designed for on film makeup (think TV Shows, Movies, Etc) not necessarily flash photography. Most HD makeup contains silica which can photograph white so it’s best to skip HD makeup just to be safe. 

This is probably something you never thought of, but it's now a priority to me to make sure my makeup looks flawless and photograph well when I go out at night.

No comments